Improved refrigerator for steam-engines



w. A. LIGHTHALLJ I REFRIGERATOR FOB STEAM ENGINES. I

- PATENTED MAY 12, 1863.

2963 VOL- my flfi/fW/Vif 14665551545 09) 1' i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. V

WlLLIAM A. LIGHTHALL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED REFRIGERATOR F oR STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,494, dated May 12, 1863. i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. LIGHT- HALL, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in refrigerators for cooling the injection-water of condensing steanrengines in order that the same may be reused; and I do hereby declare ,that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section taken through the lines 00 as, Fig. 5, Fig. 2, an end view; Fig. 3, a transverse section taken through the lines a a, Fig. 4; Fig. 4, a plan view, with the covers of the case removed, and Fig. 5 a perspective view.

My invention relates to an improvement on the refrigerator for which Letters Patent of the United States were granted to me under date of February 26, 1861; and it consists in so constructing and arranging the diaphragm and division-plates of the apparatus that the injection-water-the water to be cooled-in both sections shall travel against or counter to the current of the external or cooling Water.

The case A, cooling-water receiving-pipe B, and cooling-water delivery-pipe O are constructed and operated in their general purpose the same as the same parts are in the refrigerator described and shown in theLetters Patentabove named. The tubes D are secured to the head or tube-sheets b b and pass through the division-plates d d, in the same manner as shown in the said Letters Patent.

E is the receiving-pipe for the passage to the apparatus of the injection-water-the water to be cooled-from the hot-well of the condensing-engine to which the apparatus is attached, and F is the delivery-pipe for the passage of the same water to the condenser of the engine after it has been cooled down to a proper degree to be reused in the condenser for the condensation of the steam exhausted from the engine into the condenser.

G is a diaphragm-plate, dividing the apparatus'into two sections, the same as the one shown in the Letters Patent above named, excepting that apertures e e e e' 6 are cut through it between the division-plates, for purposes hereinafter fully described.

d d are the two series of division-plates, ar-

' ranged in equal numbers in each section and opposite to each other, as shown, for the purpose of forcing the current of injection-water to follow the course hereinafter described. The first one on the receiving side-the side where the injection-water enters through the pipe Ereaches from the top to the bottom of the case; the second one on that side reaches to the top, and is cut 05 at the bottom to form an aperture for the passage of the water beneath it; the third is the same as the first, and the fourth the same as the second. TLe first one on the opposite side of the diaphragm-plate reaches to the bottom of the case, and is cut off at its top to form an aperture for the passage of the water above it; the

second fills the space from the top to the bottom of the case; the third is the same as the first, and the fourth the same as the second. The course of the injection-water received into the apparatus through the receivingpipe E is, first, down, past, and across the tubes in the first section on that side, then through the aperture 6 into the first section on the opposite side, up through that section and over the top of the first division-plate on that side into the second section, down that section and through the aperture 6 into the second section on the receiving side, and so on, continuing from side to side, as shown by the arrows in Fig. 4--the red arrows showing the course of the water through the apertures in the diaphragm-plate, and the black ones the course of the water over the tops of the division plates until the water reaches the last section on the delivery side, from whence it is taken off through the delivery-pipe F to the condenser of the engine, cooled down by the action of the cooling-water passing through the tubes 1) to a sufficient degree to enable it to be reused to re-perform its office of condensing the steam exhausted from the engine into the condenser.

The advantage of my improvement is that the water to be cooled is carried and taken through the apparatus, throughout its course, in a counter direction to the course of the current of cooling-water entering the tubes, by-

divisionplates d d, as shown, whereby the Water to be cooled is forced to pass through the difi'erent sections of the apparatus and through the apertures in the diaphragm-plate, as described.

WM. A. LIGHTHALL,

Witnesses:

FRANCIS S. Low, JOHN G. BOLANDER. 

